Group Writing Project #4

Brian smiled at her. "And we believe you. I’m sure it was just an isolated incident. Let’s get back to the hotel. It’s been a long day all around, and we’ve got a busy week planned."

* * *

Later that night, after everyone was asleep, Brian lay awake. Jim was out cold on the other bed in the room they were sharing. You don’t suppose. There’s no way that anyone would know we’re here yet. But he wouldn’t have found me. I had the number to call him. What should I do about that, anyway? Brian hadn’t reached a conclusion when he finally fell asleep.

* * *

The next day found the Bob-Whites heading north to Santa Clarita to visit Six Flags Magic Mountain. They enjoyed their day of rollercoasters, and the middle of the day found them waiting in line for Rip Roaring Rapids to try to cool down from the summer heat.

‘Caution, you may get wet,’ Mart read the sign. "I hope I get drenched. It’s got to be 100 today."

The stranger in front of them turned around. "Well, now I know who will stay dry no matter how many times you go around." He smiled. "I’ve seen it happen too many times."

"I take it you live around here," Jim offered.

"Yep. This is my fifth year with a season pass. My name’s Mark by the way."

"Well, I’m Mart." And the rest of the introductions were made. "So you come often?"

"Well, not as much as I did when I was a student. Now that I work full time, it’s harder to get down here. The best time to come is in late spring or early fall when they’re still open daily. You can almost walk on everything."

"Wow," Dan breathed. "We’ve been waiting an hour for most rides."

Mark nodded. "I know what you mean."

"So, tell us a little about this area. I don’t remember hearing of Santa Clarita before," Jim said.

Mark laughed. "And we’re a fairly decent sized town. Actually, it only became Santa Clarita in the mid 80’s. It’s made up of what used to be several different towns. Valencia, Newhall, Saugus, Canyon Country. I still get some mail addressed to me in Newhall, even though I put Santa Clarita on everything. Let’s see, downtown Newhall has a Western Walk of Stars in the sidewalk. We’ve got stars for Gene Kelly and John Wayne here as well as a bunch of western stars that I’ve never heard of. There are a couple of different studios that have been used for westerns over the years, and in between them is the place where gold was first discovered in California."

"Now hold on," Mart interrupted. "I may be from New York, but I know that gold was first discovered at Sutter’s Fort in Northern California."

"That’s what I always thought, too, until I moved down here. But according to the local historical society, gold was first discovered under an oak tree here a few months before it was discovered near Sacramento. It was on a ranch, and the owner managed to keep it quiet until the news came out about the other find. By then, everyone had heard to go to Northern California for gold, so that’s the famous gold rush of history."

Trixie smiled. "Well, now I’ll have some new trivia for parties."

By this time, the group had reached the loading platform. Since a raft held 8 people, they invited Mark to join them. Mart took a seat facing backward to be sure he’d get wet. Mark just smiled, laughed, and sat down next to him. "I don’t want to get that wet."

The raft was huge and round, and as it started off down the "river", it immediately started turning. When the reached the first dip, or rapid, Di was the first one to get wet. She let out a little squeal of surprise. "That’s cold! Well, that was enough for me."

But it was not to be. The raft rode just right so that Di got splashed several more times. By the time they had reached the end, everyone had gotten wet, except Mart. Laughing, they said goodbye to Mark and headed to the restroom.

Mart was the first one done and was over studying the park map. He didn’t notice the others sneaking up on him with their souvenir cups filled with water from the sink.

Dan leaned against the wall next to him. "So what’s next?"

Mart lowered the map. "Well, I think we should…." Then he was hit by five cups of water. He looked down at his shirt and shorts. "You guys got me good."

Dan grinned evilly. "We aren’t quite done." He raised his cup and poured it slowly over Mart’s head. "Now we’re done."

Mart turned to him. "Et tu?" He clutched his heart dramatically. But the grin that broke on his face gave him away. "Are we even now for me not getting wet on that last ride?"

"We’ll let you know," Jim promised. "So Batman, the Ride next?"

"Yes," Trixie said sharply. "Let’s go." And she started off at a fast clip.

Honey quickly caught up with her. "What’s wrong?"

"It’s the guy from last night. The one who was looking into our car. He was back there staring at us."

"Oh Trixie, you sure?"

"Yes. He has this weird goatee that comes to a point at his chin. I’ve never seen anything like it. And he has these small beady eyes. He was looking like he was trying to make up his mind about something. I wish I knew what to do about it."

* * *

And Trixie and the other Bob-Whites were still trying to decide what to do about it the next day while waiting for Star Tours at Disneyland.

"Do you think he was following us?" Di asked.

"I don’t know. But I know it was him. You can’t easily forget his face."

Jim positioned himself next to Brian in line. After pretending to study R2-D2 and C3PO for a moment, Jim spoke softly. "What’s bothering you?"

"That may be Henry." At Jim’s quizzical look, he continued. "Lance’s uncle. The guy I was supposed to deliver the package to."

Jim whistled softly.

"I know. I wish I knew what to do. I was hoping that if I didn’t call him, we could just continue, but I don’t think that’s going to be an option any more. Now what do we do?"

"Why haven’t you told us? We’ll figure something out. We always do."

"I guess I was hoping that it would all go away. I mean, haven’t we had enough excitement for one trip?"

Later, the girls and guys split up to hit some different rides. Headed down Main Street to meet up with the others for dinner at Knott’s, Trixie suddenly stopped Honey and Di. "It’s him. The guy who’s been following us." Sure enough, where she was pointing was a middle-aged man who perfectly met Trixie’s description. He was leaning against the old fashion cinema talking to someone whose back was to the girls. Suddenly that someone turned, and all three realized it was Brian.

"He is going to explain this at dinner," Trixie said, as she marched off behind him.

* * *

As Brian finished his story, everyone was completely quiet. "So, the fact that he found us that first night was a complete mistake. He was following us ever since, however. And he wants that package from me. I managed to talk him into waiting for two days at Santa Monica, but I don’t know what to do about it."

The waitress cleared away the remains of the chicken dinners and left with the orders for boysenberry pie a la mode. The group was silent for another minute.

"Is there an office of the DEA here?"

"Trixie!" Honey exclaimed. "After all that we’ve been through this summer, how can you want to get involved in something more?"

"Actually, it’s fairly logical." Every head turned to Mart to see what he had to say. "We’ve got a drug dealer of some sort wanting to get a package from us. A package we don’t have. Unless we were to leave town right now, we’ve got no choice."

"And he might track us down at that," Dan concluded.

The pie arrived then, and as Trixie took her first bite, she said, "Exactly. I think this is the only way to move safely beyond this. Wow, this pie is good."

Mart rolled his eyes in ecstasy. "Between the excellent dinner and the pie, we’ll have to come back here again soon."

Jim’s eye’s twinkled. "Never mind that it’s on the other side of the country."

"Exactly." Mart nodded his head in mock seriousness. "Now, let’s get this finished so we can make it back to Disneyland in time for Fantasmic."

* * *

The next day, The Bob-Whites contacted the DEA. They made arrangements for the following day, and then continued on with their site seeing. They enjoyed seeing Hollywood. Di took pictures of almost every name in the sidewalk, and they all stuck their hands in the impressions left by their favorite movie stars. Since they hadn’t seen Henry since he spoke to Brian at Disneyland, they started to feel more confident. The boys and Trixie wanted to go to an ultimate frisbee game they’d heard about in nearby Encino. Honey and Di, however, decided it was time to turn in early. When Trixie returned late that night, she found both girls up and talking.

"How was the game?" Honey asked innocently.

"Tiring. They play a lot differently than we did in Utah. Still fun, though. But what are you two doing up?"

"Get the guys and we’ll tell you," Di said, her eyes sparkling.

Trixie hurried and did as she was told.

Mart entered the room last, pulling his shirt back on. "This had better be good. I was about to take a quick shower before we hit the sack."

Honey smiled. "It is. How would you feel about going to Australia." The others returned blank stares.

Jim found his voice first. "You mean sometime or pack up, we’re leaving right now?"

"I mean, pack up, we’re leaving in two days. Daddy called while you were gone. He and Mom feel so bad about what happened, that he’d like to send us to Australia to try to make it up to me. I’ve wanted to visit ever since I wrote that report on it several years ago. Bob arrives with our private plane tomorrow, and we’ll fly out of the Burbank airport the next day. What do you say?"

"Wow. Okay…." Even Mart was at a loss for words.

"Daddy is sending our passports and warmer clothes, since it’s winter down there, and is going to hire someone to take the car for us to Northern California, so we’ll have it when we get back. Isn’t it just perfectly perfect?"

"Yes," Trixie smiled at her friend’s enthusiasm. "It certainly is."

* * *

The next day, the Bob-Whites slept in and then headed for Santa Monica. Trixie, Brian, and Jim met up with a couple of agents near the pier. Trixie was surprised to find a small Ferris wheel, roller coaster, and merry-go-round as well as an arcade there.

Agent Adams started filling them in first. "Fortunately, you’ll be meeting him near the end of the amusement area. That’s always busy, and our undercover agents can keep you in sight at all times.’

"The wire in place?" Agent Lee asked.

"Yep. And I hope it’s working ok," Brian replied.

Agent Adams turned away while Agent Lee gave Brian a box. The three young adults stared at it. The day before, they had given a description of the package they’d been asked to deliver. This matched exactly.

Agent Adams turned back around. "I take it the box meets with your approval. And they got a sound check on your wire. Everything’s good to go. Now try to relax and have some fun." And with that, the agents melted into the crowd around them.

"Like we’ll have fun for the next hour," Trixie muttered.

In case someone was watching, the group of friends tried to have fun. They played a game of volleyball on the courts in the sand. But the meeting was never far from their minds. At the appointed hour, Brian left for his meeting, while the others melted into the crowd. Even with the DEA agents there, they didn’t want to take any chances.

Standing at the end of the pier with his back to the amusement area, stood Henry. Brian approached nervously. "Hello."

"Good. You came. And you brought the package."

Brian nodded. "I’m curious, however. What’s in here?"

Henry immediately turned hard. "Why? Did you look?"

"No. Just wondering what was it was that couldn’t be mailed but needed to be sent on a journey that would take a couple of months."

"Just a gift. You know how poor college students are. Guess he didn’t want to spend money on the postage."

Brian laughed. So much for getting him to incriminate himself with words, he thought. "Well, here you go."

The man’s face lit up with glee. "Thank you so much. This is great."

Brian appeared confused. "But you don’t even know what’s in it."

Henry started to walk away. "That’s right I don’t. But thank you very much."

Trixie had been watching, as and she saw the man walking away without anyone else moving in, she stepped forward. "Excuse me. I’m looking for my brother. He’s about your height, blond short hair and blues eyes. We seem to have gotten…."

The man interrupted. "Sorry. I’m in a hurry. Need to go." He turned and backed away into the arms of two agents. They immediately handcuffed him and led him away.

The Bob-Whites converged on Trixie while Brian talked to the agents. Soon, he hurried over to them. "They want to stop by tonight to thank us again. Said we handled it perfectly. Now, let’s have some fun in the sun!"

"I’m with you," Jim said. "I’m ready to be able to say I’ve swum in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans."

Dan took off running across the sand, pulling his shirt off as he went. "Last one in is a rotten egg!"

* * *

"I still can’t get over how cold the water really was," Trixie said later that night as they finished packing. "I thought the water in Southern California was supposed to be warm."

"It’s all a matter of comparison, sister dear," Mart said. "It might not be 100 degrees, but it’s warmer than other places."

"Guess that’s true," Trixie agreed.

A knock at the door interrupted them. It was Agents Adams and Lee. Agent Adams looked in. "Still planning to leave for Australia tomorrow, I see."

Agent Lee stepped into the room. "Wanted to thank you again for your help this afternoon. I’ve never seen something with civilians go so smoothly. Turns out we got a handle on a big smuggling operation we’ve been trying to track for months."

"Glad we could help, sir," Jim answered for them all.

Agent Adams smiled. "So, I don’t suppose I could get you to deliver a package to my aunt, could I?" Everyone laughed.

"I’ve had enough mysterious packages for one summer," Honey answered for them all. Still, as the agents left, they managed to slip two different things into two separate bags.

Continue to Melbourne, Australia

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